Conroy Pit

Conroy Pit is a very popular off leash dog park within the south-east part of the Greenbelt, but it is also a great place to explore by bike. Here’s how I did so early Monday morning. Blue line is the route I rode there, red line is the way I biked home.

To get there I followed the route described in this post, which took me all the way to the the corner of Hunt Club Road and the Airport Parkway off ramp. That went very well, however the next section along Hunt Club and Bank Street was hell. Speeding traffic weaving in and out of four and six lane traffic with no shoulders at all, that kind of hell. So I recommend following the much safer red route I took to get home. More on that later.

I accessed the park at the north west entrance where Quail Run Road ends, like so.

Access to Conroy Pit from the end of Quail Run Road

Once in the park the ground is pretty much packed sand everywhere, with a few loose spots, but nothing too difficult to negotiate on a hybrid bike. It would be a sinch on a mountain bike.

Path through Conroy Pit

There is indeed a pit, on one side of which is a hill used for tobogganing in the winter.

Toboggan Hill

There were a number of dogs running free along the path so I proceeded at a very comfy careful pace lest they decide to charge on over to say hi, or dart across the path after each other. I think there is an unwritten rule you don’t take aggressive dogs to an off leash park. All the dog walkers were very friendly as well, and, by all indications, very good at picking up after their pets so don’t worry about that.

Dog

There are also lots of small paths not plotted on a map that you could spend time discovering without worrying about getting too lost, as the park is pretty contained.

Small side path

The south eastern part is more wooded.

Woods

Heading back to town I followed the bike lane along Conroy Road. It’s a busy commuter artery, but the bike lane was great for getting me safely all the way to Walkley Road.

Bike lane along Conroy Road

At Walkley I hopped onto the bike path that runs along the Killborn Allotment Gardens, and then wove my way home along the route hi-lited in red. Et voila. Being in the pits can be fun!

I think there’s some peer pressure policing going on. That and there’s a huge purpose built bin in the main parking off Conroy, so folks have somewhere to drop their pet packages other than in the middle of the park.

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Need a bike route?

If you are looking for a bike route to work, or any other destinations around the region, send me two points of reference: a starting point (like a street intersection, or address, or landmark, etc) and the final destination. These can be sent via the ‘Leave a comment’ tag, or by email at OttawaVeloOutaouais@gmail.com . If the start and finish destinations are within an hour’s ride from each other (and most are) I will scout out a bike route and describe it on this blog, or point you to a link if I've aready tried it out.